BUFFALO, N.Y. — Students in Western New York's largest school district are gearing up to head back to the classroom in a few days.

The Buffalo Board of Education held a virtual meeting Wednesday night to outline how its phase-in approach will work.

What You Need To Know

  • Next week Buffalo Public Schools will start welcoming students, staff back for in-person instruction
  • The Board of Education plans to phase-in the rest of the district
  • A decision on how to move forward could be made in late February 
​​

"Everyone is ready to go," said Dr. Kriner Cash, the superintendent for Buffalo Public Schools.

Buffalo Public Schools students have been out of the classroom for almost a year now. Last March, the pandemic forced the district in to full remote learning. But starting Monday, February 1, more than 14,000 students and staff are slated to return to in-person instruction.

"We're going to start with up to 100 of our highest needs students as determined by each school. And then in the Pre-K through grade 8 schools, grades Pre-K through grade 2 have all been invited back. And at the high school level all of the seniors have been invited back," said Dr. Cash.

Darren Brown-Hall, the district's chief of staff, said, "Every school identified 100 students first, the 100 neediest students and they will be attending five days a week, other students whether they be Pre-K to 2 or seniors will be in a hybrid model." 

When it comes to transportation, school buses will have a reduced capacity and bus drivers, aides, and students will be expected to wear a face covering when on the bus. High-touch areas in school buildings will be cleaned and disinfected multiple times during each school day. Hand sanitizing dispensers are available throughout the schools and frequent handwashing will be encouraged. As for COVID-19 testing, the superintendent is in favor of it.

"We got to find out to what degree does each school have the disease, is it prevalent and if so to what degree and that's why testing is so important," the superintendent said.

He added that after the February break, the district will make a determination on how best to move forward and who should be phased in next. Until then, the rest of the district will remain in remote learning.

"I certainly would like to get 3rd graders in and I would like to get our 9th graders in as sort of my next cohort, that's what's on my mind but I won't be able to say specifically every two weeks we'll be able to do two more grades, two more grades, that kind of thing. It's so much more complex than that is what we're finding out," Dr. Cash said.